Pezberry Week
by ApathyandEmpathy
Summary: One-shots and drabbles for Pezberry week over on Tumblr.
1. Inappropriate Flirting

It was always the same. Every time. The well-rehearsed, though bordering on superstitious, routine that saw her through even the toughest of matches. She didn't know exactly when she had started doing it but considering her current run of form, she was not about to stop.

A deep and calming breath to steady her nerves, two quick bounces of the ball. Pause. Visualise.

"Come on!" Rachel shouted, pumping her fist as she watched the ball fire past her opponent, the extra spin sending the other player frantically stretching out of court with no chance of stopping an ace. Rachel might have been one of the smallest tennis players on the tour but that didn't mean her serve was any less fierce. Height be damned, she had accuracy.

Stepping forward Rachel reached out her hand to high-five her partner, it might have been their first tournament together but that hadn't stopped them reaching the final. It hadn't been easy at first, her new partner was volatile at best and Rachel had been unaccustomed to dealing with such outbursts, having prided herself on maintaining a cool composure at all times. But in spite of her temper Santana Lopez was one hell of a player, it was one of the reasons Rachel had approached her to play doubles with; racquet smashing aside, Santana won points. And points meant matches.

"You know, you keep firing off aces like that and we'll be hitting the showers in no time." Santana quipped as she leant down to re-tie her shoe laces, "You're on fire today."

Rachel nodded her mouth suddenly dry as her eyes fought to avoid the way the other girl was bent over at the waist, her short skirt hitched up slightly over toned thighs and revealing almost too much flesh. She could hear wolf whistles from the crowd and clearing her throat she gestured for her towel from the ball boy, anything to distract her from the figure in front of her.

She knew her less than stealthy ogling was doing nothing to stop the rumours flying around the media about her new formed alliance with the infamous Lopez. The newspapers were still having a field day over the second round, where distracted by the thought of her partner's abs she had stumbled over her own feet during the change of ends and found herself tripping and falling into a bemused Santana's lap. Those pictures had graced the front cover of more than one gossip magazine.

Resetting herself at the service line Rachel found her eyes drifting up from the court, her grip tightening on the handle of her racquet as she was met with the sight of Santana's toned behind once more. She was swaying now, shifting her weight from one foot to the other while she flicked the racquet in her hands, Rachel could imagine the fierce determined glint in Santana's eye as she stared down their opponents.

The sound of the chair umpires voice ringing around the ground broke Rachel from her increasingly frustrated thoughts, "Miss Berry to service. First service."

Trying to hide her distraction, she was thankful to not be receiving a time violation, so shaking her head to clear her thoughts she took that deep, calming breath. Then paused, visualised the ball whipping through the air before taking aim. She hit the ball solidly, the satisfying clunk as it came off her strings ringing through the air but unlike before, it fell short. The opposing player wasted no time in taking advantage of the less than stellar serve and fired back a strong forehand pushing Rachel back well past the baseline and out of her comfort zone, sliding across the surface she managed to push the ball back as her feet gave way causing her to crash to the floor. She didn't even have time to spring to her feet as she heard a resounding cheer blast out around her. Lifting her head from the hard court beneath her Rachel laughed as she watched a beaming Santana jogging towards her.

"No, that's fine." Santana joked as she reached out a hand to pull the smaller girl to her feet, "You enjoy your nap and I'll fire home the smashes."

Grasping the extended hand Rachel hoisted herself to her feet, she hadn't been expecting Santana to tug her with so much force though and stumbling over she found herself falling into the other girl's arms. She could hear the laughter floating down from the crowd and trying to hide her blush she giggled, her hands playfully shoving Santana away.

"You know…." Santana drawled as she bent down to pick up Rachel's discarded racquet, "If you want to cop a feel, you only have to ask." Shooting her partner a wink Santana jogged back to the net, her ass swinging much more than was necessary.

In an attempt to move on swiftly from her minor faux-pa and to try and ignore the sudden breathlessness that had nothing to do with her fall or tennis, Rachel marched back to the service line. She cast a glance at the score board, 40-15 and Championship point, but before she could contemplate her next move her attention was drawn back to her partner, her partner who was currently mouthing off at her opponent at the net. Rachel knew Santana had a history with the other girl, a history that mostly involved Santana crushing her in big matches but that didn't seem to stop Santana from making whatever snide remark she just shot over the net.

"Lopez!" Rachel barked, trying to draw her partners attention away from a verbal sparring match right in from of the umpire and stadium full of fans, "Santana, get over here." She watched as the girl turned and shooting her opponent a final glare, jogged back to the baseline.

Santana stopped short of Rachel, one hand on her hip as she gestured with her racquet, "If you want to aim for her head, that's fine with me."

"Just focus on the game." Rachel berated, "We can't afford to-"

"I'm not going to let her talk shit about you like that." Santana barked, her eyes widening as she glanced around at the spectators. Satisfied no-one had heard her outburst she reluctantly turned back to Rachel.

Rachel blinked, she could see the umpire fidgeting in his chair but she had to ask, "What exactly did she say?"

Santana rolled her eyes, "It was stupid. She implied that I should escort you back to middle earth-"

"Really? Hobbit jokes." Rachel glared, eyes drifting away from Santana to scowl at her opponent. It was like the time in the fourth round, some lowly ranked player had made a snipe about Santana's sexuality after a particularly aggressive exchange of volleys and she had responded by firing three aces straight down the middle and breaking her fastest record service speed. Rachel frowned as she muttered, "She's going down."

Santana grinned at the ferocious glint in her partner's eyes, she could see the way the other girl was gripping her racquet so tightly her knuckles had almost turned white and she felt her own determination increase; a fired up Rachel was a force to be feared. Stepping closer to Rachel she leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "If you make this shot, she won't be the only one."

Rachel felt her jaw drop as Santana slowly eased back, her pupils dark with lust she licked her lips, but found herself unable to reply. It wasn't the first time Santana had flirted with her, on or off court, but something about the way the other girl was gazing at her made Rachel's pulse race.

Realising they were under threat of a time warning Santana jogged back to her position and crouching down to the floor she waited. She could feel Rachel's eyes almost glued to her butt and turning to glance over her shoulder she grinned, mouthing _game on._

Rachel nodded her back straightening as she focused back on the court. Taking one more motivational glance at Santana she smiled and took a deep breath, two quick bounces of the ball. Visualise.


	2. Living Together

Santana grinned to herself as she put the final touches in place. It had taken a lot of planning, and in-between work and the evening classes Rachel had persuaded her enrol in, she had needed to use all her wits and cunning to hide what she was doing from her roommate. There had been multiple close calls, but now, satisfied everything was in place, Santana could only pray her plan went off without a hitch.

Rachel groaned as the familiar blare of her alarm clock cut through her deep sleep, dragging her back to consciousness. It wasn't that she didn't like mornings, quite the opposite in fact – her regular routine normally began at 6am sharp; but this particular morning her alarm clock had rudely interrupted a more than pleasant dream. One which she could quite happily have spent the next few hours wrapped up in. Instead, she threw off her covers and dragged herself out of bed to take a speedy shower. She knew Santana would have already left. The former cheerleader still kept a strict fitness regime involving trips to the gym at ungodly hours, so Rachel pumped up the volume on her iPod as she bustled about getting ready.

She had her morning routine down to an art form, one which she knew Santana secretly appreciated. In fact living with Santana had turned out to be surprisingly easy; there were no arguments over the shower, Santana always made a pot of coffee on her way out to the gym, and Rachel would in turn have a cup of herbal tea waiting on the days her roommate got back late from her evening classes. Rachel would load the dishwasher before going to bed and Santana would unload it in the morning. On the rare days they were both off it was an unspoken agreement that in the morning they cleaned, alternating chores each time of course, in the afternoon they would go to their local coffee shop to bicker and people watch and then in the evening they ordered too much take-out and caught up on all the shows stored on their TiVo.

Padding out of her room, dressed and ready for the day, Rachel grabbed her bag from the counter in the kitchen. She had a pretty busy day ahead of her, mostly studying, and all she wanted was her first coffee of the day, which should have been set brewing in the pot courtesy of Santana - should have been being the operative term.

Rachel frowned in confusion as she stared at the empty pot sitting on the counter. Santana always left her enough for a large mug to take with her on her day, and the other girl had even brought her a travel mug for the purpose.

"What the hell?" muttered Rachel, a pout forming as she took a quick glance at her watch. She didn't have time to make her own and she knew she wouldn't find any instant coffee lurking in the cupboards. It was number six on the agreed house-rules. Letting out a loud huff Rachel knew she wouldn't have time to pick anything up on her way to library, so grabbing her keys from the hook she tried not to slam the door shut behind her.

The apartment block was always buzzing with some kind of activity, even in the early hours as the other residents made their way to work, and as Rachel locked her door she noted that this morning was no exception. Her eyes fell on the delivery man currently knocking on her neighbour's door, "Morning." She smiled, her eyes lingering on the coffee and pastry bag the man was holding, "I didn't know you guys delivered?"

"We don't." He grinned, with a small roll of his eyes, "But… this is kind of a one-time thing, turns out my boss can be persuaded – all it takes is a little cash from a hot girl." Knocking on the door again the delivery guy sighed, "I had specific instructions to be here bang on 7.30am. Do you know if they're in? I'm gonna be in so much trouble if I missed her."

Rachel shrugged, she didn't know much about her neighbours; they mostly kept to themselves as a lot of people in the building tended to, "Sorry." Tossing her keys into her bag Rachel threw the poor guy a smile as she headed passed him and into the elevator. She waited for the doors to slide shut, her eyes lingering on her neighbour's door as it finally opened.

"What are you talking about? I didn't order any goddamn coffee."

Rachel could only cringe as the elevator doors slid shut and her less than polite neighbour yelled at the unfortunate delivery guy. She considered going back to see if there was anything she could do but she had a feeling she would only end up making things worse, that and she needed to hustle if she was going to make her train.

Hurrying down the front steps of the apartment building Rachel tried to ignore the argument that greeted her as her feet hit the sidewalk. It was entirely too early for _another _angry exchange so she settled for averting her gaze as she heard the irate cab driver screaming at another driver who had clearly crashed into the park cab. It was kind of unusual, she mused, to see a cab parked outside the building – after all, pretty much everyone took the subway to work or walked. In fact, she couldn't recall even seeing one of the bright yellow cars lingering in the streets. Letting out a sigh Rachel adjusted her unexpectedly heavy bag on her shoulder as she picked up her pace, the subway was a little quieter this time of morning but it was still not something Rachel enjoyed. A point she had not hesitated to make to Santana at every opportunity, she knew her roommate had similar feelings about public transport.

NYADA's on-site library was nothing short of spectacular, not that Rachel had expected anything less of course, and since most of the college's course only required a small amount of written work it was also pleasantly quiet. Not that it helped. Rachel had been trying desperately to concentrate on her work for the better part of the morning, but caffeine deprived and irritated she had mostly been fidgeting while continuously pausing to check her Facebook on her phone or stare at the wall. The blank page in front of her only served to frustrate her more and as she slammed her notebook shut she sighed. There was no way in hell she was getting anything productive done today.

"Screw it." She muttered as she hauled her bag up from the floor, where she had unceremoniously thrown it hours before, and onto her desk, "I need a snack."

It had struck her as strange that her bag seemed to be so much heavier than normal but it wasn't until she unzipped it and began rooting around that she realised why.

"What the hell?" Rachel growled, her eyes widening as she muttered, "No…no, no, no…"

Stuck at the bottom of her unnecessarily large bag, wedged between what had once been her copy of _Pride and Prejudice _and a final draft of a letter of complaint to her neighbour two doors down for excessive noise, was a large mangled bottle of chocolate soya milk; its contents flowing freely from a tear in the recycled cardboard packaging and ruining everything in her bag. Rachel was momentarily glad she had the foresight to keep her keys in a separate compartment and her phone on her person, but still she had no idea the drink had even been in her bag in the first place.

"You have got to be kidding me." Rachel moaned as she stared pitifully at the stained fabric, the murky brown starting to spread and stain her once bright and colourful bag. The worst thing was she knew she wouldn't have time to go home and get a new bag, she had a lesson in less than an hour, the best thing she could do was attempt to stem the damage as best she could. Not that that was going to do anything to stop the smell.

Hauling herself out of her seat Rachel shook her head in disbelief as she cast her mind back to the previous evening. She remembered making her lunch, which was now a soggy chocolate mess, and she remembered double checking she had put her diary in, in fact she remembered everything except the stupid goddamn milk. She hadn't even been shopping recently enough to have bought it, particularly since the one currently leaking everywhere in her bag was only available in a small shop on almost the other side of New York.

Checking her watch again Rachel grabbed her bag from the table, cringing at the little drops of milk slowly falling from the bottom, "Why me?"

At NYADA being early was considered being on time, being on time was considered late and being late was considered a crime against all that was holy. So when Rachel had slumped into her seat ten minutes after the start of her lesson she knew she was in for a rough time. If the lecture on timekeeping, in front of everyone, hadn't been enough to solidify that fact then being on the end of every question for the next two hours definitely was. Luckily she knew the answers and so by the end of the lesson she was pretty much off the hook, provided she completed a short thousand word essay by next week.

Quickly gathering her things together Rachel made a rush for the door, she still needed to get something to replace her ruined lunch and she figured she just about her time to make it to the cafeteria to picked something up before heading to her only other lesson of the day. She was the first one up and out of her chair, scurrying to the door so fast that she almost collided with someone walking in.

"Sorry." She squeaked as she side-stepped the guy and cast him a bemused look, it wasn't often you saw a man carrying a huge bouquet of flowers. They were lilies too, Rachel's favourite, "Nice flowers!"

Hurrying down the hallway Rachel didn't hear the man shouting after her.

Rachel barely managed to hold back a growl of frustration as she slammed the door shut on her locker. She had contemplated skipping her trip to the gym today but decided at the last minute, to try and channel her bad day into some positive energy on the cross-trainer. Stomping out of the locker room Rachel spotted a free machine over in the far corner and, thankful for at least one stroke of luck, quickly set about claiming it as her own. She missed having her own personal gym equipment and whilst she and Santana had debated investing in some of their own for their apartment, the fact remained that they simply did not have the room. So, apart from a set of weights and a yoga mat, they both had to resort to their local gym for any kind of real workout.

The gym itself was normally quiet this time of day, Rachel tried her best to get in before the onslaught of young professionals free from their office for the day, overran the place. It was one of the upsides of being a student, although after the day she had been having Rachel half expected the place to be crammed full of overly testosterone filled men leering and grunting.

Tossing her towel down next to the cross-trainer, Rachel hopped on and allowed, what felt like, her first smile of the day. There was nothing like working out some excess rage and blasting some tunes. Pulling her iPod out from the pocket of her sweats with one hand Rachel slipped the ear-buds in, already debating what music she was in the mood for. She had to admit that show tunes just weren't going to get the job done today. Luckily, she had taken advantage of Santana's extensive CD collection and uploaded all of the other girl's music onto her iPod, with a shake of her head Rachel remembered how surprised she had been to find out that for all of Santana's music collection, the other girl was useless when it came to technology. She for the gift of allowing Rachel to steal her music, Santana had made Rachel sync her iPod as well. It had been worth it in the end though, particularly for the hilariously blank expression on Santana's face when she had tried to explain to her roommate how to use iTunes.

Swiping her finger across the screen Rachel hummed to herself, "I wonder if anyone has considered a dub step remix of the _Wicked _soundtrack." Chuckling she clicked to bring up her playlists, her many, many playlists. She had taken the time to plan one for every occasion and although she had never needed to use her zombie-outbreak survival mix, one could never be too careful, "What. The. Actual. Fuck?"

Rachel froze as her grip on the device tightened and she stared at the screen in disbelief. The screen that should have contained an entire catalogue of music and playlists, but instead shone back at her with nothing of the sort, "No…no, no, no, no…" Rachel muttered as she frantically, and pointlessly, flicked from screen to screen. It was no use, slamming her palm to her forehead Rachel contained herself enough to not throw her clearly erased iPod across the gym. She breathing increase, her chest heaving with rage as her mind raced.

_Who could do such a thing? Who could?_

Then it hit her, the sudden obvious realisation, the only person who had access to beloved iPod. Santana.

"It was you! What the hell is wrong with you?" Rachel exploded as she stormed into the apartment, slamming the front door shut so hard the pictures hanging on the wall shook, "I thought we were over petty crap like this?"

Santana jumped up from where she had been reading on the couch, the huge smile on her face fading as soon she saw how angry the smaller girl was, "What-?"

"No!" Rachel barked as she held up a hand to silence any protests, "Don't you dare stand there and play dumb with me." Edging closer to her friend she let her bag drop to the floor with a heavy clunk, the fabric still wet, stained and starting to smell, "I had things to do today, Santana. Important things. And I-…I don't understand why you had to sabotage me. Did you think it would be funny?"

Santana shook her head, her eyes wide as she found herself lost for words. Her eyebrows knitted together in a frown, she let Rachel continue her rant.

"I mean, I can survive there being no coffee in the morning. I can."

"Wait." Santana interrupted, "No coffee? But I-"

Rachel let out a bitter laugh as she raked a hand through her hair, "Are you really going to stand there and act like you don't know what I'm talking about?" Gesturing to her ruined bag she continued, "I supposed you're going to tell me that you didn't plant that milk in my bag so it would leak and ruin everything?" Rachel crossed her arms as she tried not to look at her roommate, "You know I was late to my classes because of that? I have to write an essay to make up for it and I-"

"I-I didn't-"

"No!" Rachel shouted, her voice echoing around the apartment as she turned her back on the other girl. Needing to put some space between herself and Santana she stomped her way across the living room towards the large sliding doors that led to their balcony, "My whole day was ruined and I-". Rachel stopped abruptly, her angry rant dying mid-sentence as she stared out at the scene on the balcony. Swinging around to look at Santana her anger evaporated immediately at the miserable expression she was met with.

"Santana…wh-what is this?"

Santana leapt into action, already berating her slow reactions she quickly pushed passed Rachel and onto the small patio, "It's nothing."

Rachel shook her head; lingering in the doorway she tried not to let her jaw drop. The normally dull and claustrophobic space had been transformed; a string of fairy lights hanging haphazardly around the edge of the railings while candles provided a warm light over what looked to be a picnic and a carefully laid out blanket, "Santana…." Rachel tried, her voice shaking as she looked to the other girl for an explanation, it couldn't be what she thought it was, right?

"Look…I…I'm sorry, alright?" Santana snapped as she hastily grabbed the corners of the blanket and made to snatch it up from the floor.

Rachel hadn't been expecting the apology, and she definitely hadn't expected the other girl to suddenly haul the blanket from the floor, a loud clutter cutting through the air as a variety of plates smashed together in the ball that had once been Santana's favourite blanket, "Wait…no, don't-" But it was too late, Santana had already hurled the blanket into the corner, breaking any remaining china and undoubtedly ruining the fabric.

"Forget it." Santana growled as she pushed passed Rachel and back into the apartment, one hand reaching out to hit the light switch much harder than was necessary, the multi-coloured lights abruptly disappearing, "It was a stupid fucking idea anyway."

Rachel blinked, she could hear the way Santana's voice strained and spinning around she tried to follow her roommate, "Wait." Reaching out to grasp Santana's arm she managed to stop the other girl from leaving but couldn't get her to turn around, "You did this for me?" Rachel exhaled, her heart pounding in her chest, a painful mixture of excitement and guilt.

"It doesn't matter." Santana muttered, dropping her chin to her chest with a sigh.

"Of course it matters."

Santana shook her head, "No, it doesn't." Keeping her back to Rachel she continued, "We're supposed to be friends and I… I thought… fuck. I'm such an idiot because even after everything, you still think I'm just a bitch."

Rachel winced, "No, I don't-"

"And maybe you're right." Santana continued, her words flowing as though she hadn't heard the smaller girl speak, "Because even when I try to be nice, I still fuck everything up. I'm sorry, okay?" Finally turning to face Rachel she kept her eyes on the floor, averting her gaze, "I'll just stay out of your way."

Stepping closer to Santana Rachel shook her head adamantly, "I don't think you're a bitch and I definitely do not want you to stay out of the way." Taking one of Santana's hands she smiled, dipping her head to try and make eye contact she bit her lip, "I'm sorry. I over-reacted, I just… everything went wrong and it was like this spiral of rage and then… I blamed you and I shouldn't have because I know, I _know_ that you would never do something like this. But everything went wrong today and I-"

"Everything?" Santana interjected sadly, her eyes shooting up from the floor to meet Rachel's.

Rachel nodded, she was about to launch into a tirade about her day when another realisation hit her, "It was you."

"You already said that." Santana muttered miserably as she shook off Rachel's grip.

"No, no…I mean it was all you." Rachel's eyes lit up as she finally pieced it all together. Taking Santana's hand again, she ignored the other girl's protests, "The coffee this morning, _you_ were the hot girl with the cash the delivery guy was talking about. _You _got them to deliver."

Santana frowned but gave a small nod.

"But they got the wrong address." Rachel explained, more to herself than anything. Holding up a hand to silence Santana she continued, "There was a taxi waiting outside this morning…"

Santana rolled her eyes, "He didn't pick you up?"

"No, he crashed into a stationary car." Slowly edging closer she bit her lip, "You went across town to the vegan place to get me my favourite milk and you hid it in my bag as a surprise?" Another nod. "The delivery guy I ran passed after class today, the flowers were for me?" Yet another nod. Gnawing nervously on her bottom lip, Rachel fought back a bemused laugh, "What about my iPod?"

Santana squinted in confusion, "Your iPod?" rolling her eyes she sighed dejectedly, "I fucked that up, too? All I did was try and make a playlist."

Rachel chose not to tell Santana the outcome, not wanted to hurt her friend's feelings any more, with a small grin she shrugged it off, her mind focused on my important things, "And…and you put everything together; the food, the lights…you planned everything for me?"

"I tried to." Santana mumbled as she shifted awkwardly under Rachel's stare.

"Why?"

Santana paused this time, her eyes drifting to the wall momentarily before returning to gaze at Rachel, a forced smile plastered to her face as she felt her courage falter in light of the day's failures, "It was stupid. Can we just forget it, please?" Santana tried to step back as she realised how close Rachel was standing to her now, the smaller girl was almost close enough to touch and it was making her nervous, "I promise I won't do it again."

Moving with Santana the smaller girl shook her head. She hated seeing the normally confident and self-assured girl so _unsure_ of herself. It was even more painful with the knowledge that she was the one who had made Santana so downtrodden, "Santana-"

"No." Santana barked as she suddenly whipped her hand away from Rachel's and stumbled back. She could almost hear the rejection in Rachel's voice and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She only really had one defence against this kind of humiliation, "I already said I was fucking sorry, alright?"

Rachel didn't get a chance to reply, as before she could even form a thought Santana had started to rush from the room, her legs carrying her faster than Rachel could have anticipated. She blinked in shock before snapping to her senses, and calling after the other girl, she followed. The fact their apartment was on the small side was a big advantage, and taking the direct approach and leaping over the couch in one graceful leap, Rachel was able to cut Santana off before she could reach the door, "Stop!"

Santana barely even acknowledged the other girl's presence; her eyes starting to gloss over with tears she attempted to push passed Rachel.

Rachel might have been caught off-guard by Santana's attempt to flee the room but she had been expecting her friend to put up some resistance now. Not allowing Santana to edge passed her she jerked sideways, squaring herself up to the taller girl.

"Get out of the way." Santana growled in exasperation as she found she couldn't dodge her way around Rachel. There was no way in hell she could ever lay hands on the singer and that didn't leave her many other options, "_Move_."

Rachel shook her head defiantly and as Santana tried one last ditch attempt to basically push right through the middle of her, Rachel reacted. Throwing her weight against Santana's she forced their bodies to come together, and taking advantage of the other girl's surprise Rachel used all her strength to push the taller girl backwards, her arms reaching up to wrap around Santana's shoulders as she all but slammed them into the wall. Pinning Santana down she paused, chest heaving as she stared at the other girl. Then she leaned forward and crushed her lips against Santana's.

Santana groaned, her own arms reaching up to wrap around Rachel's waist, drawing the smaller girl closer as she deepened the kiss.

"I don't want to forget it." Rachel whispered against full lips, her words caught between them as she clung tightly to Santana, one of her hands moving to run through dark locks as she stared intently at the other girl.

Biting back a tentative smile, she frowned, "But…I- I ruined your day…"

"Well…I thought so too." Rachel smiled, as she dipped her head and placed a quick kiss against the corner of Santana's mouth, "And it's not often that I'm wrong but…" Shifting her lips slightly she hovered over Santana, "as it turns out, this is a pretty perfect day after all."


End file.
